About

$15,303

pledged of $15,000 goal

158

backers

FROGGY is a play written in the style of a noir graphic novel that uses interactive projection design to illuminate its visual narratives. The show is currently in development with American Conservatory Theatre, The Banff Centre and 3-Legged Dog, who are contributing partners, but our artistic team has agreed to cover a portion of the cost to complete our creative vision and deliver a production-ready piece.

What we need

We are asking our Kickstarter friends for $15,000 to help fund two workshops in which we will create a comprehensive, production-ready video design for the entire show. 3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group (3LD) in downtown New York City has already offered us a residency at their studios, with access to space and equipment. June 16-30, 2013 we plan to define and develop the entire video design. January 5-19, 2014 we will refine the completed design and sync it with all other performance elements.

Your investment will pay for travel, housing and fees for our creative team. All donations will be processed by 3LD, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, and are tax-deductible. Join our circle of contributors, and we will deliver a theatrical experience that revolutionizes the live combination of storytelling, performance, music and media.

Will FROGGY be produced?

Yes! FROGGY's future plans include a final workshop production at The Banff Centre after the second 3LD workshop, and a premiere at American Conservatory Theatre in the 2014-2015 season at their brand new venue, a renovated, 300-seat cinema called The Strand. Our Kickstarter goal is only a portion of the amount we need to raise for both workshops - both ACT and The Banff Centre are serving as partial contributors - but we have committed to bring them a finalized projection design.

Who's on the creative team?

Jennifer Haley is a Los Angeles-based playwright whose recent work deals with technology and virtual reality. She won the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (best new play written by a woman in English) for The Nether, which premieres at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in March 2013. Her play, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, premiered at the Humana Festival in 2008 and continues to run in theaters across the country.

Matt M. Morrow is the new Associate Artistic Director at City Theater in Pittsburgh. He focuses on developing new plays that are highly theatrical and push conventional boundaries. His most recent production, South Side Stories, was cited as a "Top Ten of 2012" in both the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the Tribune Review, and returned to City in January 2013 for an extended run.

Bob Bonniol is a Visualist, Screens Producer, Projection Designer, Pixel Mapper, Video Content Designer, Interactive Artist, and VJ. He creates live experiences on stages and in installations using video, imagery, digital lighting, and interactivity. His video design for 2012 included Shania Twain at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas and the musical tour of Catch Me If You Can.

Nathan Leigh is a composer, songwriter, and producer. Mixing folk, punk, classical, electronica, and world elements, Nathan draws from a wide array of influences to create unique musical atmospheres and soundscapes. He has won two IRNEs for Best Sound Design and recently developed his serialized musical, Sealand, at the Flea in New York.

Owen Brierley is a Digital Media Producer and Executive Director of Guru Digital Arts College based in Edmonton, Alberta. His recent experience includes co-creating an Alternative Reality Game for the tween audience and game design and project leadership of A Serious Game for service rig workers.

What's been done with FROGGY so far?

In the summer of 2008, in a barn at the Millay Colony For the Arts in upstate New York, playwright Jennifer Haley wrote the first draft of FROGGY. She wanted to write a play in the style of a graphic novel, so instead of using a word processing program, she opened publishing software that allows a more free-style use of text and graphics. The script began to unravel in framed units of image, dialogue and action, steeped in dark graphic novel noir, and several overlapping story lines emerged: the real-time tale of a woman named Froggy searching for her missing lover, the apocalyptic journey his character takes within a video game, her memories of growing up with an emotionally ruined father, and a dream world where she explores the source of addiction.

FROGGY's untraditional formatting made it a hard sell, and it was two years before Jen found her collaborative partner in Matt M. Morrow. In 2010 they paired up for a workshop sponsored by Page 73 Productions to sculpt the story and develop a multi-narrative staging technique. They continued this work during an April 2011 workshop at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, fortuitously held at The Banff Centre. Kelly Robinson, the Theatre Director there, was impressed with the project and brought them back to Banff in October 2011 with composer, Nathan Leigh, who wrote and recorded a soundtrack for FROGGY. Carey Perloff also caught the workshop presentation of the show at Sundance, and invited the team to finesse their sound design at American Conservatory Theatre.

Kelly Robinson subsequently introduced the team to media guru Bob Bonniol and game designer Owen Brierley, and in June 2012, as part of The Banff Centre’s I.D.E.A. Project (Interaction, Design, Experience, and Audience) they performed a dramaturgical assessment of the script and began work on the video design they hope to complete in these workshops.

Risks and challenges

If we do not meet our funding goals for both workshops, we will go ahead with the first one in 2013 and then regroup to look for funding for the second one in 2014.

On the artistic front . . . we are pouring a lot of time, energy and money into a video design that runs the risk of eclipsing the story. With that in mind, our top goals in these workshops are to develop a design fantastic enough to break boundaries in theatrical visual storytelling, yet minimal enough to make financial sense in terms of production - and ultimately be in service to the written story and the performers. We do not see this as specialty piece, only of interest to theatregoers attuned to new media design, or an extravaganza that requires whopping ticket prices, but as a simple show that will appeal and be available to folks of all ages and divergent interests. We seek to tell an old story of love and loss in an entirely new way, and pledge to create a theatrical piece that is both emotionally and visually stunning.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

All of the above, plus a personalized "thank you" photo from our workshop that we will send to you via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, as well as an invitation to our final workshop presentation at 3LD in New York City in January 2014.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

A signed ENTIRE script, the soundtrack, a "thank you" photo, an invitation to our final presentation, co-producer credit in our program and - come by during one of our workshops, we'll FILM you in the FROGGY video game!